Argentine War of Independence

The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 when Argentina fought for its independence from the Spanish Empire during the South American Wars of Liberation.

History
The French invasion of Spain during the Peninsular War of 1808-1814 created a power vacuum across the Spanish Empire's colonies in the Americas, as the colonies refused to recognize Joseph Bonaparte as the legitimate ruler of Spain. By 1810, the Spanish resistance to the French invasion had almost been defeated, with the liberal Junta of Seville being disestablished and several members fleeing to Spain's last stronghold, Cadiz, where they formed a new absolutist junta. This led to the May Revolution in the Spanish city of Buenos Aires in the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata (now Argentina), where the city's citizens rose up against Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, whom they claimed was no longer the legitimate Viceroy due to the change of juntas. However, the Portenos of Buenos Aires refused to recognize the new Council of Regency in Cadiz, and Buenos Aires then requested that the other cities recognize the new junta in charge of the city. Soon, the Rio de la Plata's people were polarized between two camps: the Patriots, who supported the South American junta, and the Royalists, who supported the Council of Regency. The Council of Regency declared Buenos Aires to be a rogue city and appointed Montevideo as the new capital of the Viceroyalty.

The former Viceroy Santiago de Liniers organized a counter-revolution in Cordoba, so the revolutionary government ordered a campaign against Cordoba, as well as one against the Intendancy of Paraguay. Liniers' army deserted him before the battle, so he instead fled to Upper Peru (Bolivia), and he was captured on 6 August 1810; on 26 August, he was executed in Buenos Aires on the orders of Juan Jose Castelli.

After securing the loyalty of the northwestern provinces, Castelli sent Antonio Gonzalez Balcarce to invade Upper Peru, where he was initially defeated at Cotagaita; after being reinforced, Gonzalez was victorious at Suipacha. The royalist generals Vicente Nieto, Francisco de Paula Sanz, and Jose de Cordoba y Rojas were captured and executed, and Upper Peru fell under Argentine control. However, Castelli was not given permission to advance into the Viceroyalty of Peru, and the Royalist general Jose Manuel de Goyeneche led an army into rebel territory from Peru and defeated Castelli at Huaqui. Castelli's army was forced to retreat, but local guerrillas held the royalists at bay in Upper Peru, preventing them from advancing south.

The other army, commanded by Manuel Belgrano, invaded Paraguay, winning at Campichuelo. However, the Patriots were defeated at Paraguari and Tacuari and were forced to retreat, ending the campaign. A few months later, however, Paraguay declared its independence from the Spanish crown, inspired to do so by Argentina. In September 1811, the reverses in Paraguay and Upper Peru led to the Junta being replaced by an executive Triumvirate, and it appointed Peninsular War veteran Jose de San Martin as a colonel and Belgrano as the commander of the new Army of the North. In the "Jujuy Exodus", Belgrano launched a scorched earth campaign as he withdrew from Jujuy and Salta, and he disobeyed Triumvirate orders to defeat the Royalists at Tucuman and Salta in 1812. That same year, the Argentines once again invaded the Banda Oriental (Uruguay), with San Martin defeating the Royalists at San Lorenzo in 1813. The new Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, built up a navy and besieged Montevideo, which fell on 20 June 1814.

The fall of Montevideo ended the royalist menace from the Banda Oriental, ending the Spanish viceroyalty. In 1815, Argentine general Jose Rondeau started an offensive campaign in Upper Peru, but the army lacked official support and fell into anarchy, losing control of northern Upper Peru. Once again, patriot guerrillas held the royalists at bay. On 9 July 1816, a year after King Fernando VII of Spain's restoration to the throne, the Congress of Tucuman declared the independence of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. In 1817, San Martin led a crossing of the Andes into Chile, defeating the Royalists at the Battle of Chacabuco on 17 February and taking Santiago; he deferred the governorship of Chile to the Chilean general Bernardo O'Higgins. Royalist resistance still stood in southern Chile, allied with the Mapuches, and the Argentines evacuated Concepcion as a new royalist army under Mariano Osorio arrived. On 18 March 1818, at Cancha Rayada, Osorio inflicted a decisive defeat on the patriot army, but, on 5 April, San Martin won a great victory at the Battle of Maipu, forcing the depleted royalists to retreat to Concepcion, never again to launch a major offensive against Santiago. The victory at Maipu also ended both the Chilean campaign and the Argentine War of Independence, as the further actions of the United Army in Peru was carried on under Chilean command, and the 1825 Battle of Ayacucho ended the Royalist threat in Upper Peru and the wars of liberation.